Powdercoating VOLKS

[Impreza]

My co-worker has some LE-37's that are gun metal with a polished lip. He wants to get them powdercoated to a gloss black for a change of "look". He is just wondering whether this will have any detrimental effects to the wheel such as, will the wheel be weakened? if he better off selling these wheels and buying new VOLKS? Should he paint instead?

It almost seems like a sin to powdercoat Volks for some reason...

Please let me know your thoughts and opinions so I can pass this info onto him.

PS, Where can you purchase the Volk decals that are on the wheels? Since they will be removed when the wheels are powdercoated

[RickDaTuner]

The oven process which is needed when you powder coat anything will in fact weaken the wheels, it will in short relieve the annealing process that the wheels have from the factory, making them very very soft.
If he really wants a change of look of those wheels then all I would suggest that he do is paint them. There is no reason why a good paint job wont last as long as a powder coat job especially for a set of wheels

[Schwa]

Its actually an annealing process that makes metals soft. So what you're doing is softening them up more.

The magnitude of this change depends on a variety of factors but unless you drive your car hard I doubt you will notice a difference.

[DALLEN]

Originally posted by RickDaTuner
The oven process which is needed when you powder coat anything will in fact weaken the wheels, it will in short relieve the annealing process that the wheels have from the factory, making them very very soft.
If he really wants a change of look of those wheels then all I would suggest that he do is paint them. There is no reason why a good paint job wont last as long as a powder coat job especially for a set of wheels

Agreed!!!! dont powdercoat the volks....paint is the way to go it looks good long lasting and won't compromise the strength of the wheel!!!

[SilverBoost]

Sell them to someone who wants a lightweight set of wheels, and then buy new ones. Even painting them you run the risk of messing it up. Then you have painted wheels you hate, and you won't get as much for them either because someone thinks you had something to cover up.

For the amount of time and cost required to paint wheels "correctly", I'd just sell them and put that cost toward a new set. But that's just my opinion.

[rc2002]

Yeah, I wouldn't feel right with painted wheels either. I would always be worrying about the paint chipping off - it's like OEM paint. No matter how well the respray is done, it'll never be like it did coming out o fthe factory.